China UnionPay to enter European market

The world’s largest payment card issuer, China UnionPay, is reportedly planning to enter the European market in a move that could cause serious competition for Visa and Mastercard. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese payments provider is planning to issue branded cards in the UK in October followed by similar moves in other European markets in December.
While UnionPay has held a near monopoly on bank card payments in China, it is coming under increased competition for electronic and mobile payments in its domestic market from TenCent’s WeChatpay and Ant Financial’s Alipay. Read more…